TORONTO — "Over the moon." That's the way Conor Daly was feeling following his 11th-place qualifying run Saturday on the streets of Toronto.

Recruited Monday by Brian Barnhart and Harding Racing to replace Gabby Chaves and give the first-year full-season team a new technical perspective as they turn their focus toward 2019, Daly was thrust into the No. 88 car this weekend without ever having wheeled IndyCar's new road and street circuit aero kit or having tackled one of those tracks in more 10 months.

Not that Daly didn't appreciate the opportunity. Of course he did. Since being let go by A.J. Foyt Enterprises in the offseason, Daly has been doing everything he can to reclaim a permanent seat in the Verizon IndyCar Series. So when Barnhart called him Monday after Iowa, Daly jumped at the opportunity, but the expectations heading into this weekend were understandably low.

"Very, very satisfied," a beaming Daly told IndyStar after his qualifying run. "There’s little victories now in life. Look, everyone knows this, and I keep saying it, but it’s been an interesting run the past few years. So when something like this happens, when it’s last minute, when it’s wild and crazy, and you’re just trying to do your best job and we’re able to throw out laps like that, it feels really good. I’m so happy."

Daly took advantage of a wet and wild opening qualifying session Saturday. With rain pouring down, the track grew so slippery that Chip Ganassi Racing's Ed Jones lost control of the car, causing a red flag to fly.

By the time the qualifying resumed green, each driver had only enough time for one lap in hopes of advancing to the second round of knockout qualifying. Daly responded with the fourth-fastest time of his group.

When him team told him he was P4 over the radio, Daly screamed with excitement.

"“Are you serious?!” Daly yelled back.

Advancing to the second round of qualifying is something Harding has achieved only once this season, when Chaves qualified P8 at a rain-soaked qualifying day at St. Petersburg. Daly didn't quite match that feat, but that didn't keep Barnhart from praising both Daly and Chaves' performances.

"What they did reflects very positively on them, because when it’s one timed lap in the rain, it’s them standing up in the seat and getting it done," Barnhart said. "And they both did it, so kudos to them."

Can’t tell you how good today feels! Love the wet, love driving an @IndyCar on the limit. Thank you @HardingRacing88@TeamChevy for all the work this weekend! Starting P11 and only a small gap to the fast 6! Let’s go get some tomorrow 🤙 #88 #Toronto

So while it still stings that his chance comes at Chaves' expense, Daly has already validated the team's decision, Barnhart said. The Noblesville, Indiana, native has provided excellent technical feedback all weekend, and there's no quibbling with on-track delivery Saturday.

"It was still a tough decision (to pull Gabby), but there’s no doubt it’s proved to be a successful weekend for us to this point and we’re hoping to keep it going (Sunday)," Barnhart said. "Conor has been great to work with, and I’m really impressed with his technical feedback on it. It a lot of ways, he’s validated similar information to what Gabby was saying but did it with maybe different terminology and a different perspective on it and provided a different perspective on what might make it better and has helped the engineering go off in a different path.

"Overall the intent of what we were trying to accomplish this weekend has been achieved, as difficult as it is for everyone involved in making those decisions."

No matter what happens Sunday, though, Daly is far from guaranteed a return trip to the No. 88 car. In fact, he probably won't return to Harding, as the team will continue to explore its options. But Daly's not thinking about that right now.

"We've ticked all the boxes so far," Daly said. "Now we just have to complete it on Sunday. ... We're just going to go for it. If we can stay around the top 10, that would be an amazing day. Not thinking beyond that. It's just one step at a time."